What's better - Pet Sounds or Bridge Over Troubled Water?

Please help settle this one and hopefully nip what could become a long and very tedious argument in the bud.

Pet Sounds

Pet Sounds >> Bridge Over Troubled Waters

But ...

"Bridge Over Troubled Water" >> "Pet Sounds"

"Water," that is.

I assumed we're talking about the albums here, not the individual tracks

I'm sure we are. I was just being a wise ass.

The argument was over the relative merits of the albums....we have yet to get on to individual tracks!

will be watching this thread with a keen eye

what's the point of comparison, exactly? they are pretty different records, and aren't contemporaneous.

Bridge > Sounds. Album or song.

Had the same question as SMC. I'm guessing you think Pet Sounds is overrated and Bridge underrated; don't really see much similarity, either in sound, context, or anything else.

yeah they exist in pretty separate worlds, to my mind

i've yet to crack the seal on my 40th anniversary edition of pet sounds with its additional stereo version and dvd of extras.
the joys of the pre guy hands emi mailing list.
given that i have never enjoyed the beach boys style, i have always thought that this is an album not for me.
yet there are those that insist this is not like the surf era stuff, and therefore more suitable for me.
certainly the signs indicate i should like it : studio experimentation, wrecking crew instrumentation etc.
could this thread be the one that makes me reject all hopes of an ebay bonanza and see who is right ?

the beach boys didn't have a "style" - they had an assload of different styles that varied over time

fair point.
i meant the stuff i hate(d).
i.e. the surf stuff.
hence why i have yet to take the plunge.

yeah Pet Sounds doesn't sound like that. at all.

i cant deny, my resistance is lowering.

[i've also held out as a matter of course given that i chanced upon brian doing his karaoke thing @ glastonbury 05 and it was truly awful for a non-believer like me]

performing live hasn't been Brian's strong suit since, oh, 1964 or so.

mark e, haven't you heard, Pet Sounds is the Beach Boys album for people who otherwise don't like the Beach Boys.

it's pretty unique in their catalog (it is prefigured a bit by the 2nd half of Today! but that's about it)

"Let Him Run Wild" is very Pet Sounds-ish

Bridge Over Troubled Water is somewhat unique in the S&G catalog for that matter

yeah, and the opening of California Girls, and She's Not the Little Girl I Once Knew too... but it's not like they made a bunch of albums that sound like Pet Sounds

xp

mark e, haven't you heard, Pet Sounds is the Beach Boys album for people who otherwise don't like the Beach Boys.

something i have heard several times before, hence why the 40th is still in the archive as opposed to having been traded in ..

also, is it better in stereo ?

as its not that common on cd ?

I've never cared if it was stereo or mono

Tom Tom Tom.

Bridge >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Pet.

This is an argument entirely predicated on Devon Record Club, btw.

bridge over pet

Stereo remixes on the "Classics Selected by Brian Wilson" comp are awful. Haven't heard PS in stereo though.

Pet Sound's best moments surpass BOTW but taken as a whole Pet Sounds is really too twee.

Pet Sound's best moments surpass BOTW

yeah nothing beats God Only Knows. Sorry, Only Living Boy in New York.

don't make him feel too bad about losing out. He's already down enough as it is.

"Pet sounds" is fine in stereo. I grew up with the mono version and always thought it was a bit thin in places, but the stereo mix works very well. I certainly haven't felt the need to go back to mono at any point.

Even though I like and enjoy both of these albums, I'm more likely to reach for Bridge Over Troubled Water than Pet Sounds. The former is an album I can listen to in a range of situations and a range of moods, whereas the latter I have to be in a specific mood.